Serum Procalcitonin and Lactoferrin in Detection of Acute Appendicitis; a Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Introduction: Finding an accurate diagnostic test can reduce the rate of unnecessary abdominal surgery in cases of suspected acute appendicitis (AA). This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum lactoferrin (LF) and procalcitonin (PCT) in detection of patients with acute appendicitis.Methods: In this diagnostic accuracy study, screening performance characteristics of PCT and LF were calculated in patients suspected with acute appendicitis and healthy volunteers as control group.Results: 131 cases participated (61 as case and 70 as control). The mean serum level of LF (0.9±0.14 vs 0.2±0.13 µg/ml; p 0.0001) and PCT (0.15±0.21 vs 0.11±0.02 ng/dl; p = 0.02) were significantly higher in patients suspected with AA. The AUC of PCT and LF were 0.46 (95% CI: 0.31-0.61) and 0.61 (95%CI: 0.47 - 0.76), respectively. At a 0.90 µg/ml cut-off value, LF had 77% (95 % CI: 63 - 91) sensitivity and 43% (95 % CI: 31 - 55) specificity. Also, at a 0.11 ng/dl cut-off value, PCT had 41% (95 % CI: 26 - 56) sensitivity and 69% (95 % CI: 53 - 85) specificity.Conclusion: Based on the main finding of present study, the overall accuracy of serum PCT and LF in detection of patients with acute appendicitis are in poor to failed range and it seems that they could not be considered as good screening tools for this purpose

The Effect of Transparency, Independence and Accountability of Central Banks on Disinflation Costs

Policymakers often want to achieve low inflation to avoid the low economic growth associated with high inflation. Reducing inflation through monetary policy (disinflation) is not costless as it can coincide with higher unemployment rates and reduced output. In this paper we use sacrifice ratios to calculate the cost of disinflation during the 1990s for 40 countries. We then study whether transparency and democratic accountability of monetary institutions reduces disinflation costs. Our empirical results suggest that more transparent central banks seem to face higher disinflation costs. This result could be because more transparent central banks have lower initial inflation rates during their disinflation episodes. Therefore, reducing inflation even further is more costly to them. We find no significant relationship between independence of central banks and the disinflation costs they faced during 1990s

The Relationship between Workplace Stress with Burnout and Quality of Work Life among Managers and Staffs of the University of Medical Sciences (with an Emphasizing on the Mediating Role of Job Burnout and Workplace Stress)

Background: This study was designed to examine the relationship between workplace stress and burnout and the quality of work life.Methods: This was a descriptive-surveying study with a correlational approach. The sample included managers and staff were selected by a census method based on the Morgan table and a total of 300 male and female employees were chosen through a stratified random sampling methodology using Morgan table. We used the Jagdish job stress questionnaire to measure the levels of job stress, while the burnout rate was assessed through Volfar job burnout scale. The Elena's quality of work life inventory was also applied to evaluate the quality of work life of the employees and managers.Results: We studied 352 samples. The mean age of the participants was equal to 32±3 years. There was a positive relationship between workplace stress and job burnout (P<0.01, r=0.31). A negative relation was also found between the workplace stress and quality of life (P<0.01, r=-0.62). Accordingly, the job burnout can reduce the quality of work life (P<0.01, r=-0.39). The mean value of the job stress of female managers and employees (66.69) was higher than male managers and employees (68.14), but the difference was not significant (P>0.05, df=350, t=2.03).Conclusions: The results did not confirm the mediatory role of job burnout in the correlation between job stress and quality of work life; however, a significant mediatory role of the stress was found and confirmed in the relationship between burnout and quality of work life

The Relationship between Workplace Stress with Burnout and Quality of Work Life among Managers and Staffs of the University of Medical Sciences (with an Emphasizing on the Mediating Role of Job Burnout and Workplace Stress)

Background: This study was designed to examine the relationship between workplace stress and burnout and the quality of work life.Methods: This was a descriptive-surveying study with a correlational approach. The sample included managers and staff were selected by a census method based on the Morgan table and a total of 300 male and female employees were chosen through a stratified random sampling methodology using Morgan table. We used the Jagdish job stress questionnaire to measure the levels of job stress, while the burnout rate was assessed through Volfar job burnout scale. The Elena's quality of work life inventory was also applied to evaluate the quality of work life of the employees and managers.Results: We studied 352 samples. The mean age of the participants was equal to 32±3 years. There was a positive relationship between workplace stress and job burnout (P<0.01, r=0.31). A negative relation was also found between the workplace stress and quality of life (P<0.01, r=-0.62). Accordingly, the job burnout can reduce the quality of work life (P<0.01, r=-0.39). The mean value of the job stress of female managers and employees (66.69) was higher than male managers and employees (68.14), but the difference was not significant (P>0.05, df=350, t=2.03).Conclusions: The results did not confirm the mediatory role of job burnout in the correlation between job stress and quality of work life; however, a significant mediatory role of the stress was found and confirmed in the relationship between burnout and quality of work life

Fetal Electrocardiogram Signal Extraction by ANFIS Trained with PSO Method

Studies indicate that the primary source of distress in pregnent mothers is their concerns about fetus’s condition and health. One way to know about condition of fetus is non-invasive fetal electrocardiogram signal extraction through which the components of fetal electrocardiogram signal are extracted from a signal recorded at abdominal area of mother which is a combination of fetal and maternal electrocardiogram signal and noise source components. The purpose of this study is to propose an algorithm to boost this extraction. To this end, we decomposed electrocardiogram signal to its Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) thruogh Empirical Mode Decomposition algorithm; then, we removed the last and collected the other IMFs to reconstruct electrocardiogram signal without Baseline. Afterwards, we used Particle Swarm Optimization to train and adjust the parameters of Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System to model the path that maternal electrocardiogram signal travel to reach abdominal area. Accordingly, we were able to distinguish and remove maternal electrocardiogram signal components from the recorded signal and hence we obtained a good approximation of fetal electrocardiogram signal. We implemented our algorithm and other algorithms on simulated and real signals and found out that, in most cases, the proposed algorithm improved the extraction of fetal electrocardiogram signal.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v2i2.23